PINK DOVE

(myself and Reggie, cousin at 4)

Last night as I prepared for the "bath"

I opened a new box of pink Dove soap.

I took a big wift of the wonderful aroma

and immediately was brought back to a place

that was my safe place while going through cancer.

My aunt Ga-Gald and Uncle Red's home was

that safe place. When I was there, awaiting

the doctors appointments and hospital stays

that were going to cause havoc on my body,

I felt safe. It is where I encountered my first

bar of Pink Dove.

I believed as a child that my aunt and uncle were rich.

At my home that was always filled with many

mouths to feed we only had the soap that happened

to be on sale that week. Usually Dial was the cheapest.

Yet in Chalmette, they used only Pink Dove.

I awaited the evening that would take me into

their elegant bathroom for the smell and lather

of the Pink soap.

I stayed in the tub for long periods of time,

wishing that at my house we could have Dove.

I never asked for it, it wasn't something you

shared with your parents.

I know if I had I would have had it.

Yet I didn't want it at my house.

Yes I was as deep as I am now as a little child.

I wanted my Griffin house to be where

the soap was used because it brought me

comfort at a time when I had no control over

what happened to me.

As I sat in the hospital of Touro, awaiting

to be taken from my parents into a surgical suite

where they would poke and prod me,

catheterize and x-ray me,

I could smell the aroma of Pink Dove soap

on my skin and I felt comforted.

It is probably no surprise to all of you followers

that I now, and have since I am an adult, only

buy and use Dove soap.

It is not always the pink type.

The new green and orange are some of my favorites

but it is only in the scent of the Pink bar

that brings me back to the safe place of my childhood.

What a lucky little girl I was!